I talk a lot about book promotion. And this is the activity I’m involved in right now—promoting my own new book, Talk Up Your Book. Well, I guess you’d say that I spend most of my time promoting my books, especially those books and ebooks related to publishing and book promotion. It’s a rather constant activity for me—continually bringing you worthwhile information and concepts through this daily blog, speaking and participating in conferences, seeking and setting up new speaking gigs, writing articles for appropriate publications, maintaining a useful website, showcasing my books, updating my Amazon Author Page, using social media, making myself visible at book festivals and so forth. This is ongoing for me.

Currently, however, I have stepped up my promotional activities. I’m still doing all of the above, plus I am talking about my book wherever I go, soliciting reviews and announcing the new book to my email list and in member newsletters.

Yes, I do practice what I preach. Announcements about Talk Up Your Book have gone out to around 1,500 people on the lists of names and email addresses I have collected over the years. And I have around 500-800 more business cards I need to sort through.

I did a teleseminar with around 200 people in attendance last week. I’ve had three reviews, so far. I will contact all of those who participated in the book next week and find out what they are doing to promote this book. I know that some are featuring it in their newsletters and at their websites. Two have written reviews.

I will check to see what my publicist at the publishing company is doing. So far, there are few results, but often it takes time to get the promotions ball rolling. I’ll probably be bombarded with requests for interviews and such around the holidays. Yikes!

Do you have a new book out? Are you preparing to launch a book soon? Start now planning your marketing strategy and keep adding ideas to your plan. Here’s something that will surely help, subscribe to and read newsletters related to book promotion. You will pick up new ideas and become privy to new resources to help you along the very difficult book promotion road. Join SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) and connect with other authors to learn what promotional ploys are working for them. You’ll also have access to the monthly SPAWN Market Update which has a strong focus toward book promotion ideas and resources. http://www.spawn.org Membership is only $65/year.

If you have a book to promote, watch our FREE enewsletter for an announcement about opportunities to display or sell your book in the SPAWN booth at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at a dramatically reduced rate. Did you know that a single booth space costs nearly a thousand dollars if you do it on your own? And this event attracts around 140,000 people. Subscribe to SPAWNews here: http://www.spawn.org

I’ve turned comments back on here. Would love to hear from you about the book promotion tactics you are pursuing or that you plan and how this is working out for you. And be sure to order your copy of Talk Up Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences and More. You will learn volumes about using your personality to sell books. And, folks, more and more authors are attesting to the fact that the most effective way to sell your book is through your personality. Order your copy of Talk Up Your Book at amazon.com at my website (url below) or at any other online or downtown bookstore. http://www.matilijapress.com